Would someone care to mention where these 'greener pastures' might be?

Overall, yes I agree. There used to be tons of cool threads going and I could spend the whole day wasting time on them. Another thing that has bothered me *subjective* is that I've been banned 4 times in the last 2 months or so, while before that I was never banned. I didn't even notice who was a mod before, but now I know all too well. I see mods have been changed though.

I think a big part of the problem was sales would settle a lot of arguments, but if it doesn't support a fanboy's worldview they'll twist the shit out of their argument and move the goalposts all over the field and into the parking lot if they have to in order to prop up their side or bring down another side. It's like the whole sales figures side doesn't exist or something -- the analysis just isn't there anymore.

Sort of like how the right-wing US went insane because of a black man being elected president, Nintendo winning in such a heavy-handed fashion has caused meltdowns of hilarious proportions. It's been an incredibly polarizing generation and a lot of changes have happened in the last few years.

I used to show up a lot more in 07- early 09 but a lot of times arguing is very tiring when there's no enforced standard as far as level of conversation. It's less about actually making a well thought-out post and more about shoveling through a mountain of shit. It's really frustrating when someone makes a gigantic shitpost and then many, many pages later when it's thoroughly destroyed it goes from being these giant statements of fact to "oh well it's just my opinion and opinions are never wrong!" This was especially true on the PC side when some random jackoff would wander in and say "360 controller is better for FPS!"

That same basic template would come into sales figures and everything else. Suddenly it's not about sales, it's about, like, my opinion man! Needless to say, for the most part analysis disappeared and reality no longer has any bearing on any argument.

Point is, when conversation devolved into people throwing handfuls of shit at the walls to see what sticks, all of the nuance and really fascinating analysis disappeared. Sure we'd argue and have internet slapfights, but it went levels deeper than initial surface reaction. You could also be damn sure that some of the best insights came from people who didn't even like the console in question but could be counted on to at least be fair and add some perspective worth considering and respecting.

By early 09 a lot of that was gone and I had gotten so frustrated personally I sort of became a troll and an ass until I got a temp ban, which prompted a much needed break to come to a lot of these conclusions.

Damn that felt good to get off my chest.

So true about the goalpost moving.

Sometimes it's just hard to walk away from an argument, even if you know the guy has no idea what he's talking about.

“Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!” - George Carlin.

OT: No. Whilst the average intelligence of the members on this site has decreased progressively as it has become larger, it's still a LOT better than the majority of gaming sites out there.

I will say that it's a lot more left-wing than the majority of sites out there. Think of that what you will

I wouldn't spend so much time here if this place didn't nurture me in some ways.

Honestly, I can't really take that vote. For all the fanboys who can't see beyond their own noses, there are still brilliant members who can make great discussions.

I don't know enough about the average intelligence of the VGC users, which is why I think voting "Yes" would be a disservice to all the great posters.

I do know it's a damn shame that the great posters seem to be taking a step back on the site though. If fanboys are becoming prevalent, then the way to bringing intelligent discussions back to the site is not to let them dominate discussions, but to make intelligent discussion even more prevalent than before.

This site has its moments.

How are you going control that without people yelling at you for "illegal" banning?

Are you going to keep track of repeat offenders? Like handling out coloured cards?

green card = 1 point

yellow card = 4 points

red card = 10 points

black card = 9001 points

Accumulate 10 points and you get banned for a week. Black card gives permaban.

Shhhhhhh, we aren't supposed to talk about secret society of secrets. :P Also long time no see Mako. 

this seems like a trick question.